Joe Biden has picked many of his historic cabinet picks. He has nominated Antony Blinken as Secretary of State. He has nominated Alejandro Mayorkas As Secretary of Homeland Security. He is the first Latino American to be nominated at such a position. Avril Haines was picked as Director of National Intelligence, Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor, and Linda Thomas-Greenfiled (who is an African American woman) as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Former Secretary of State John Kerry has been picked as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. These men and women have to be confirmed by the United States Senate to exist as official members of the Biden Presidential cabinet. The new Biden/Harris administration will have to deal with immigration, police brutality, racial discrimination, the pandemic, the economy in general, health care, and other important issues of America. Likewise, Rudy Giuliani continues to be a disgraceful Trump supporter. During the early 1990's, Rudy lead a police riot (that took place on September 16, 1992 where ca. 10,000 demonstrators blocked traffic in downtown Manhattan) against the former mayor of David Dinkins. The anti-Dinkins mob used vandalism and assaulted innocent bystanders. They stormed NY City Hall and blocked traffic in the Brooklyn among both directions. Dinkins just wanted civilian review board to investigate NYPD police misconduct. Many of those cops called him the n word and every name under the sun. Rudy never condemned the racism of the 1992 NYPD riot. Rudy Giuliani has always been a sick racist. One cop in the riot called a black woman city council member Uma Clarke the n word too. Rudy believes in the lie that Black Lives Matter protests are anti-American and term itself is inherently racist.
I watched the discussion among Joy Reid and former GOP head Michael Steele about politics. Joy asked Steele if he would go to the fire for the Republicans in 2021 when tons of them have some total loyalty to a fraud like Trump. Michael Steele is a senior person of the Lincoln Project (made up of anti-Trump Republicans). Steele said that it depends on the Republican or the issue. That made Joy Reid to respond to refute that view, and I don't blame her. Far right Republicans have shown us that they could care less about building up society, fighting environmental pollution, and desiring a bold change to end structural racism. Joy Reid said that she respects Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez, because at least AOC would stand up for immigrants, a living wage, for racial justice, and against reactionary extremism. That is why you have to be discerning when dealing with the Lincoln Project. One Lincoln Project founder bragged that he installed Sam Alito and John Roberts on the Supreme Court. Many of them in that Lincoln Project are neo-cons who supported the Iraq War and other folks who disagree with Trump (but they want the centrist status quo). AOC is fighting for working class people, the poor, and the oppressed.
Joe Scarborough has written a new book entitled, "Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization." Joe wrote that Truman helped to promote internationalism, bipartisanship, NATO, The Marshall Plan, and other things to advance modern world society. I knew by intuition that it is a book that would be loved by neo-cons, neo-liberals, moderates, and other red baiters who love the status quo than transformative justice. He even written a red baiting article about how we should just follow bipartisanship and other things in order to get America growing. The title of his book has the phrase of "Western Civilization" which is interesting. The book praises Winston Churchill who was a racist and imperialist. One of the few things that I do agree with Churchill on is him fighting the Nazis in Britain. Winston Churchill didn't want FDR to invade Normandy in defeating the Nazis early because of his hatred of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, during World War II, contributed heavily to defeating the Nazis on the Eastern Front especially. Joe Scarborough loves the system of free market capitalism, but omits that some capitalist corporations were involved in building up the Nazi Regime decades ago from IBM to IG Farben. Capitalism is the economic system linked to the Maafa. Also, it is no secret that Winston Churchill was a racist. He made racist comments about black people, Chinese people, and Indian people. In 1955, Churchill expressed his support for the slogan "Keep England White" in regards to immigration from the Caribbean. So, Winston Churchill was a bigoted piece of work. The British Empire was collapsing, because it expanded by imperialism, colonialism, theft, exploitation, and oppression. The end of the British Empire is a good thing, and even FDR wanted many nations to have independence from the wickedness of colonialism. One positive consequence of the defeat of the Nazis was the end of the modern British Empire when black countries and other nations of color used independence movements to end overt imperialistic domination. Joe wants to rehabilitate Truman. Truman was from Missouri. His grandfathers were slaveowners. He was part of the Pendergast machine in Missouri. Also, the book took veiled shots at FDR. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the real person involved in promoting international cooperation, the New Deal, and the American response that helped to defeat the Nazis by 1945, not Truman. Truman was President for a few months during WWII, but FDR was President for over 10 years transforming America forevermore. Back in 1944, FDR wanted Henry Wallace (a progressive) to be Vice President.
The Democratic moderates pressured the DNC to make Harry Truman Vice President, because Wallace back then favored civil rights, was a progressive, and didn't have a hostile attitude in foreign policy matters. Truman was President, was involved in the Yalta Conference, and he allowed the extermination of over 100,000 people via atomic weapons in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (when even American generals said that such war crimes against humanity was unnecessary). The atomic bombings were some of the most wicked, evil acts against a defenseless population in the history of humanity. Truman did some good things from integrating the military to passing legitimate legislation. Yet, his anti-Communist paranoia caused him to promote reactionary policies too. Truman was a Cold War hawk. The only difference between him and MacArthur was that Truman didn't want to U.S. forces to invade China or Russia overtly. Stalin obviously is not a hero. Stalin burned churches, jailed dissidents, and violated human rights, even harboring anti-Semitic views (which are against the tenets of socialism or common morality). Harry Truman was adamantly opposed to the civil disobedience aspect of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950's & the 1960's. Truman questioned the excessive acts of the CIA during the 1960's, and he supported Medicare in 1965 (as Medicare is universal health care for elderly Americans). So, Truman's legacy is complicated and complex. Truman is not the super hero as Scarborough made him out to be.
Yesterday, the sad news is that David Dinkins passed away. David Dinkins was the first African American mayor of New York City. He lived in a time of transition in NYC in dealing with economic issues, racial tensions, and other matters. He was a Marine. He lived to be 93 years old. As mayor, he faced problems, but he made a difference in many areas. He helped to decline the crime rate in NYC in his last year of office. He caused the homeless shelter population in the city to be its lowest in 2 decades. David Dinkins worked in promoting jazz, invested in anti-AIDS efforts, was a professor, and he loved his late wife. His memoirs came about in 2013. It is entitled, "A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic." David Dinkins was New York City. He personified an age in transition, and he lived to see the end of the Trump regime. I send condolences to his family and friends.
Rest in Power Brother David Dinkins.
By Timothy
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